ANZUNS Faculty

Brigadier Georgeina Whelan, AM, CSC and Bar

Brigadier Georgeina Whelan was enlisted into the Army in 1985.She graduated from the Officer Cadet School into the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps in June 1988.Brigadier Whelan has extensive experience in the command and management of Defence garrison and combat health systems.Brigadier Whelan deployed to INTERFET in 1999 as the Operations Officer of the 1st Health Support Battalion and Operation Sumatra Assist in command of the ANZAC Field Hospital in 2005. She completed RAN Staff Course in 2000, the US Military Medical Strategic Leadership Program in 2008 and Higher Defence College in 2012.

Brigadier Whelan was directly involved in the early development of the Army and ADF approach to managing wounded, ill and injured personnel in 2003-2004, she led the establishment of the Army Soldier Recovery Centres and the development of the Army Health Modernisation Plan over the period 2009-2011.

Georgeina recently completed her appointment as the Director General of Garrison Health Operations. During her tenure she embarked on a program of operational reform with the intent of standardising and enhancing health service delivery within a quality construct.Georgeina initiated a national business improvement program with the aim of enabling national accreditation of ADF health facilities by 2018.Brigadier Whelan is a fearless change manager who seeks to ignite strong leadership across all levels. Georgeina is an active participant in programs that support diversity and opportunity for all members of the ADF. More recently, Brigadier Whelan was appointed as the Director General, Select Strategic Issues Management in the Office of the Chief of the Defence Force.

Brigadier Whelan was awarded a Conspicuous Service Cross (CSC) in 2004 for her work in developing the Army Health Continuum and was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2006 for her command of the ANZAC Field Hospital on Operation Sumatra Assist.She was named ACT Telstra Business Woman of the year in 2015. More recently Brigadier Whelan was awarded a Bar to her Conspicuous Service Cross in the 2016 Queens Birthday Honours List for her outstanding achievement as the Director General Garrison Health Operations in Defence Health Services.

Professor Mei Krishnasamy

University of Melbourne

Professor Mei Krishnasamy B.A. RN, MSc. PhD is Chair in Cancer Nursing at the University of Melbourne and Nursing Research and Education Lead for the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre. She is Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Olivia Newton John Cancer, Wellness and Research Centre and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne. Prior to her role at the University, Mei was Executive Director of Cancer Nursing and Allied Health at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. She is chief investigator on several national collaborative research projects that focus on improving patient experiences and health care outcomes and she sits on several national expert cancer policy committees. Mei is actively involved in the work of the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care and she is immediate past President of the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia and past President of the Cancer Nurses Society of Australia.

Suzanne Wallis

Goulburn Valley Health

Suzanne Wallis is a Rural Sexual Health Nurse Practitioner at Goulburn Valley Health, Shepparton Australia and Forensic Nurse Examiner for adult victims of sexual assault, who works in an on-call capacity for the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, Melbourne Australia.She is an Executive Committee Member of both the Australasian Sexual Health and HIV Nurses Association and the Forensic and Medical Sexual Assault Clinicians Australia.

Suzanne’s background is in Infectious Diseases nursing, particularly HIV, since 1992 and broader sexual health for the last fifteen years. This has included the challenges of clinical outreach, and service provision in the rural health sector in both Victoria and Tasmania and she has worked as a Forensic Nurse Examiner in Victoria since 2008, both on the metropolitan roster as well as in a regional setting.

She has a particular interest in the provision of clinical services for those who are vulnerable, marginalized and at a disadvantage, including street based sex workers, men who have sex with men and our rural young people.She is involved in capacity building activities and the development of NP roles at Goulburn Valley Health and other organizations.Suzanne was fortunate to be involved as a mentee in the Victorian Nurse Practitioner mentoring pilot.

Suzanne has published and presented on matters of sexual health and forensic health nursing and has been a recipient of two Victorian Nurse Practitioner Project publication grants.